Cleanliness is damaging the health of people throughout the nation.

            In case you haven’t noticed, the people who take all the “right” precautions not to get sick are always the ones to get sick.

            The truth is, most germs and bacteria are actually healthy to be exposed to. Even the ones that aren’t healthy aren’t going to kill you. In fact, being exposed to these “unhealthy” germs can actually help to boost your immune system.

            Germophobes, as they are sometimes known as, are some of the unhealthiest people on the planet. They are obsessed with keeping everything so clean that it literally makes them sick. Their lack of exposure to healthy bacteria makes them extremely susceptible to all kinds of sicknesses.

            When the bird flu and SARs were going around, many people would wear doctor’s masks to prevent them from inhaling any viruses. Germophobes tend to wear these masks year-round, which is completely ridiculous. 73 percent of the people who wear those masks on a regular basis end up suffocating to death anyways, all because of a fear of little immune-boosting bacteria.

            However, just because germs are healthy doesn’t mean you should go around eating gum from under the desks or licking the handrails on escalators, but it’s not going to hurt you to lay your hand on the rail for the twenty second ride to the next story.

            It’s absolutely ridiculous that people refuse to touch things just because someone else’s hand has touched it before. Yes, there are a lot of germs and bacteria on people’s hands, but there are a lot more in your mouth. So it wouldn’t really hurt you to lick the escalator handrail, you just might look a little creepy doing it.

            Some germophobes insist on wearing latex gloves to protect their hands from all of those nasty germs. What they don’t realize is that they are endangering a percentage of the population that is violently allergic to latex. They’re so selfish that they would rather cause a few deadly allergic reactions than get a little dirty every once in awhile.

            There’s a time to be clean in society. Hospitals, for example, should show extreme cleanliness and caution when it comes to their facilities. However, the level of cleanliness in a hospital should not be comparable to the level of cleanliness in a home. That’s just plain unhealthy.

            So please, all you germophobes-in-training out there, leave the cleaning to the professionals, or your mom. Start enjoying life—smell the fresh air, dig through trash cans, and start eating that toast that lands jelly-side down when it falls off the counter.